Archives

September 2023

September 21, 2023
I totally understand if you’ve moved on from Alexander Lang’s blog post “Departure: Why I...
September 14, 2023
A friend shared Alexander Lang’s blog post “Departure: Why I Left the Church” with me...

August 2023

August 29, 2023
Climate crisis, war, loneliness and despair, all the interlocking systems of oppression that dehumanize us...
August 18, 2023
As the days get shorter again and kids prepare to go back to school, I...
August 11, 2023
There was a time in my life when I found it comforting to sing a...
August 02, 2023
I enjoyed the Barbie movie. I mean, anytime a woman goes on a legit hero’s...

July 2023

July 28, 2023
Once, at a work-related social event, I ran into someone I recognized. Let’s call him...
July 21, 2023
Every now and then, I find myself in a one-sided “conversation.” Probably at least in...
July 11, 2023
I’m not ashamed to say it. These days, I take sermons with a grain of...

June 2023

June 30, 2023
Advocates of a “consistent ethic of life”—as Tish Harrison Warren put it in a recent...
June 22, 2023
I know, intellectually, that there is a lot to love about Anglican priest Tish Harrison...
June 14, 2023
As I watched the recent docu-series The Secrets of Hillsong, I found myself thinking: It’s...
June 07, 2023
One of the key ways my thinking on religious leadership has changed is this: I’ve...

May 2023

May 26, 2023
I’ve been thinking about the threat of being asked to leave a church or other...
May 19, 2023
Sometimes I feel the urge to try to prove my “good”ness. Many times, I resist...
May 11, 2023
Maybe you’ve been in a group of people when the conversation takes a turn. Someone...
May 03, 2023
People often associate religion in general—and Christianity in particular—with shame, and for good reasons.  Recently...

April 2023

April 27, 2023
Last week I wrote about learning to say “no” to religious shame, as part of...
April 21, 2023
When we talk about religious authority, we need to talk about how to resist that...
April 12, 2023
A couple years back, when I was still pretty new at my current church, my...

March 2023

March 17, 2023
I’ve met a bunch of new-to-me people at church recently and have had the chance...
March 10, 2023
Religious structures and systems are not God. And religious authority figures are not God. This...
March 03, 2023
As we consider non-authoritarian ways of reading the Bible—as well as non-authoritarian ways of speaking...

February 2023

February 24, 2023
I’ve been reflecting on how my views of faith and authority have changed over time....
February 03, 2023
I’ve begun to notice some of the casually authoritarian language people use in church services...

January 2023

January 27, 2023
I realize that the “love and justice” part of reading the Bible with a bias...
January 20, 2023
If we—as Christians often do—ever think we have all the right answers about the Bible,...
January 13, 2023
A little over four years ago, I took a seminary class on Dr. Martin Luther...
January 11, 2023
A pastor I like and respect once said that he found it much more valuable...
January 06, 2023
In one of my preaching classes in seminary, we were asked to write and preach...
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